The Project
Five years ago, we came up with the idea of recording covers of each other’s songs. Over a series of summers, we independently recorded what eventually became two sets of four covers. The project coalesced just as the twentieth anniversary of our friendship approached, and the resulting “album” captures some of what we appreciate about each other as songwriters and as people. Our 20-year Friendiversary seemed like a good time to celebrate a far-reaching musical and interpersonal connection. We really hope you enjoy it. And thanks to all who have been part of our ongoing musical lives.

The Covers
Here’s the record. We encourage you to download it as an album, and to listen to the songs in this sequence. Clicking on the name of the song will play the song in a new window. You can also download the song by right-clicking or option-clicking.

Cactus (cover)
Manny (cover)
Apt. (cover)
My Old TV (cover)
When I Was a Young Girl (cover)
Orson Welles (cover)
Hole (cover)
Smile (cover)

The Originals
To give you some context and some idea of our processes, we’ve included the songwriter’s own version of each of the covers. Although there may have been many versions of the song recorded over the years, these are the renditions that felt definitive for the person doing the cover.

Each original version is preceded by a brief conversation in which we talk about the roots of the song (Where were you when you originally wrote it? Who was around? What was the scene?) and the intention of the cover version (How was the cover selected? Why this song? Where did you go with it?).

Cactus (conversation)
Cactus (original)

Manny (conversation)
Manny (original)

Apartment #13 (conversation)
Apartment #13 (original)

My Old TV (conversation)
My Old TV (original)

When I Was a Young Girl (conversation)
When I Was a Young Girl (original)

Orson Welles (conversation)
Orson Welles (original)

Hole (conversation)
Hole (original)

Smile (conversation)
Smile (original)

The Backstory: The Victorian, The Fish, The Band
Built in 1872 by George Fuller, the fourteen bedroom Victorian home at 71-73 Charlesfield St. in Providence, RI saw its fortunes change in 1969. That was the year Brown University purchased the building and, soon after, it became one of the residences of the Brown Association for Cooperative Housing (BACH). The co-op house, named Milhous after Richard Nixon’s middle name, was well-established by 1987 when two homesick Palo Alto natives, Nina Katchadourian and Jennifer Knuth, entered the co-op housing lottery and became roommates there. Eric DeLuca, who had lived in Milhous a couple of years earlier while driving a frozen lemonade truck, had recently moved back into the house. From a picture on her door of The Beatles in a Miami swimming pool circa 1964, Eric deduced that Nina was a fan. He knocked and introduced himself. They discussed The Beatles, Laurie Anderson and William Burroughs, and became fast friends.

In the room next door to Jen and Nina lived Greg Tucker, who had long been a guitarist. As Nina, Eric, Jen, and Greg developed a friendship, they also cultivated an interest in playing, and eventually writing, music together. Eric taught Nina some basic guitar on 12-string. Jen played viola; Greg and Eric both played guitar, and everyone took a rotation on bass. Nina had a fish at the time that someone said “looked Swedish,” so the fish was named Lars, and (for reasons less clear) the band was named after the fish. Lars quickly evolved its own style and enthusiastic, in-house fan base. Camper Van Beethoven songs were staple fare, alongside original signature songs like “Death Has a Girlfriend.” The group recorded one album, produced by Linton Hale with support from Bart Wise, in spring of 1989.

Jen and Greg became a couple and moved to Seattle after graduating (they now live in Boulder, CO, with two children and two cats). Nina and Eric continued with Lars and “went electric” with the aforementioned Bart Wise on bass and a drummer known now simply as “Sexy Tony.” Songs in the compilation offered here, such as Orson Welles, are representative of these later Lars years.

Discography